Roasted Garlic and Marrow Bone Soup with Crispy Sage

I was able to get out of town the past few days and go up to Missoula, Montana where Jeremy’s family lives. It was a welcome break from the craziness of the past few months, the fresh mountain air and beautiful scenery did me much good. Unfortunately I did end up getting sick the last couple days of the trip and am still trying to kick this wretchedly sore throat/mild fever. My brain is still in fever-mode at the moment and is not functioning at its full healthy-person capacity, so if I seem to ramble a bit in this post or say something weird, I apologize. All I want to do at the moment is eat soup, and I’m kicking myself for not tossing any extra bones in the freezer from when I made this recipe a couple weeks ago.

I think most of us have heard at some point that bones are good for soup stock, but thick, dense bones also have another equally flavorful use. You see, they are usually packed with marrow. Marrow is a kind of jelly-like substance that can be scooped out of really big bones, and beef bones tend to be the easiest to procure. You can ask your butcher to cut you some 3-4 inch thick marrow bone slices, and they’re usually pretty cheap since most people don’t really want the bones, anyway. You drizzle the bones with some olive oil, sprinkle them with sea salt, and roast them in the oven until cooked through. The flavor from the bones concentrates into the marrow, and when you scoop out the jelly-like substance, you really have something to behold. Earthy, savory, rich, and meaty, the taste is incredibly unique in its decadence. Some people like to simply spread it on toast and eat it, but I decided to incorporate it into a soup along with one of my other favorite roasted items, garlic.

The sweetness of the roasted garlic pairs perfectly with the intense savoriness of the roasted marrow, and with some butter, shallots, onions, thyme, cream, bone stock, and crispy sage, you have a seriously incredible soup on your hands. One that I wish was in my hands right this very moment. And you may have noticed the beautiful popping blue of the towel in this photo, along with the warm sage green one. Both were made by the lovely Maggie Pate of inks+thread, who does small-batch natural fabric dying of tea towels, napkins, scarves, and other clothing. As a supporter of artisanal business and quality craftsmanship, I highly recommend taking a little visit over to Maggie’s shop to peruse her wares. Ranging in shades from the truest blue to the blushiest pink, its incredible to think that everything is dyed by hand with a homemade natural dye. She’s a very talented dame, indeed.

Crispy Sage Leaves

vegetable oilfor frying

5fresh sage leaves

1/2teaspoonsea salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the marrow bones on a baking sheet lined with tin foil and drizzle them with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and the sea salt. Cut the top 1/4 off the garlic heads and drizzle them with the remaining olive oil, then encase each one in tin foil. Place the marrow bones and the garlic in the oven and roast the bones for 20-25 minutes and the garlic for 35-40 minutes. Remove them from the oven and set them aside to cool.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the shallots, onion, and bay leaf and cook until the onions have softened and are translucent, about 20 minutes, stirring every 3-5 minutes.

While the onions and shallots are cooking, use a small metal spoon to scoop the jellied marrow out of the bones and set it aside. Reserve both the bones and the marrow, separately.

Once the onions have cooked sufficiently, add the vegetable broth, thyme, sage, black pepper, and the bones. Bring the heat down to low and allow to simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

Add the whole milk, cream, and marrow. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the papery garlic husk and into the soup. Discard the husk, and remove the bones from the soup with a slotted spoon. Discard the bones as well.

Pour the soup mixture into a high-powered blender or food processor and blend until completely smooth. Pour the soup back into the pot, bring it back up to a simmer over low heat, and taste. Add salt if needed. Set aside.

To prepare the crispy sage topping, heat the vegetable oil in a small skillet until hot. Add the sage leaves and fry until crispy, about 3 seconds, then remove with a mesh spoon and place on a plate lined with paper towels. Immediately sprinkle the leaves with the sea salt.

Distribute the soup into the serving bowls and top with the crispy sage leaves. Serve immediately.

Hahaha, agreed. They don't realize that back in the day when food was scarce, people would live off of bones for weeks just getting every little last bit of flavor from them by making tons of stock. Really makes for a crazy-tasty soup!

How cool that you're doing a course Eva. It needs to happen, and you'll be the perfect teacher. If I didn't have to fly across the country I'd come take it myself! I love marrow bones, but have only enjoyed them at a restaurant. Why not make them at home though? I'm a badass cook, dang it! I can handle it! Thanks for the recipe. I may just tackle it now.

Awww thank you Katie!! I am so so excited, I love teaching (my mom was a teacher, and my brother and sister are both teachers) and am obsessed with photography and styling so it seems like the perfect fit 🙂 It's going to be a wonderful summer!!

This is sooo amazing……!!!!! I seriously think we have similar tastes, because bone soup is one of my favorites. Of course, I haven't tried it this way but one of my fave Korean dishes is oxtail bone soup. So refreshing and rich, exploding with flavor!

I’ve made this recipe twice. No hyperbole, it is the best thing I’ve ever made. The second time around I had the butcher cut the bones width wise. That made it easier to fit them all in the pot. I also peeled away as much of the papery membrane from the garlic heads before roasting. That made it easier to extract the garlic. Fantastic recipe.